Search

Two HPLC-UV rapid methods have been developed to quantify and identify melamine, ammeline, ammelide and formaldehyde in samples of melamine plastic kitchenware. Eighteen samples of melamine articles purchased at various markets in Galicia (Spain) and Quito (Ecuador) were analyzed. Melamine analysis was carried out using a HILIC column (150 × 3 mm, 3 µm size of particle) and ammonium formate 10 mM (fitted to pH 3 with formic acid)/acetonitrile (5:95 v/v) as mobile phase. Formaldehyde was reacted with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine, and then the analysis was carried out using a Kromasil ODS (C18) column (150 × 3.20 mm, 5 µm size of particle). A gradient elution method was applied using Milli-Q water and acetonitrile as mobile phase. Articles were exposed to the food simulant acetic acid 3 % (w/v). The test conditions used were repeated exposures to the simulant for 2 h at 70 °C. The methods were validated with respect to linearity, limits of detection and quantification, and repeatability. Melamine migration was detected in 8 of the 18 food contact articles analyzed. However, none of the samples exceeded the specific migration limit (SML) of 2.5 mg/kg on the third exposure. Ammeline and ammelide were not detected in any sample. Formaldehyde migration was detected in all of the samples analyzed, and in 56 % of the samples, formaldehyde levels were above the SML of 15 mg/kg established in European Regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a national public health problem, and increasingly appears at earlier ages. One of the predisposing factors for this is obesity; however, in our environment there are few data on the prevalence of diabetes in overweight and obese adolescents. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of diabetes in overweight and obese adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A prospective study was conducted on adolescents between 12 and 16 years of age, overweight or obese in 3 secondary schools of Michoacán, Mexico. There were registered weight, height, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), waist circumference and capillary glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) by a device DCA Vantage Siemens, also fasting blood glucose and postprandial. RESULTS: There were included 93 subjects, from whom 71 had HbA1c <5.7% (control), 18 with HbA1c between 5.7 and 6.5% (pre-diabetic), of which 14 were women, and 4 with HbA1c >6.5% (diabetes), 3 women and one man. The only significant difference between the three groups was higher postprandial blood glucose levels in diabetics and pre-diabetics compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Although this is a screening study, the frequency of diabetes mellitus among overweight and obese adolescents was 4% and 19.5% with prediabetes, which represents that almost a quarter of these adolescents have impaired glucose metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological characteristics of a new tick-borne disease in Spain— Dermacentor-borne necrosis erythema lymphadenopathy (DEBONEL). The clinical presentations include an eschar at the site of the tick bite, surrounded by an erythema and painful regional lymphadenopathy. The disease appears during the colder months and its vector is Dermacentor marginatus (D. marginatus). From January 1990 to December 2004, 54 patients presented at Hospital of La Rioja with these clinical and epidemiological data. The ratio of females to males was 32/22. The average age was 37 years. In all cases tick bites were located on the upper body (90% on the scalp). The median incubation period was 4.7 days. Signs and symptoms were mild in all cases. Only a small number of patients presented mild and nonspecific abnormalities in a complete blood cell count and mild elevation of erythrocyte sedimentation rates and C-protein reactive and liver enzyme levels. Serological evidence of acute rickettsiosis was observed in 19 patients (61%). In 29% sera tested by polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) were positive. The sequence obtained from a PCR product revealed 98% identity with Rickettsia sp. strains RpA4, DnS14, and DnS28. All ticks removed from patients were PCR-positive. Sequencing showed 8 of them identified as R. slovaca and 2 as Rickettsia sp. strains RpA4, DnS14, and DnS28. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the epidemiological and clinical features of a tick-borne disease differing somewhat from other tick-borne diseases found previously in Spain. All patients were bitten by Dermacentor marginatus or a large tick. The clinical features include a crustaceous or necrotic lesion at the site of the tick's attachment, surrounded by an erythema (erythema migrans-like) and painful regional lymphadenopathies. The probable aetiological agent is Rickettsia slovaca. Similar cases have been reported in other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clin Microbiol Infect Abstract In 1996, the first human case of infection by Rickettsia sibirica subsp. mongolitimonae was described in France. Subsequently, other human cases were reported in the same country. The acronym LAR (lymphangitis-associated rickettsiosis) has been proposed to designate this disease because lymphangitis is one of the main clinical manifestations. Later, a few more cases were described in Portugal, South Africa, Egypt, Greece and Spain. We report a case of R. sibirica mongolitimonae infection as a cause of septic shock in a Spanish patient living in La Rioja (northern Spain). In addition, the broad clinical spectrum of this tick-borne disease is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to determine the IgG antibody response to spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR) R. conorii and R. slovaca, and its specificity and sensitivity in patients with DEBONEL/TIBOLA. A prospective study of 31 patients with DEBONEL was carried out from January 2001 to May 2004. The SFGR serology testing (IgG IFA) for the diagnosis of DEBONEL/TIBOLA showed 61% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The R. slovaca antigen allowed the diagnoses in 18 of the 31 patients (58%), and 17 patients (55%) were diagnosed with this disease using R. conorii antigen. Therefore, using R. slovaca as antigen did not improve the sensitivity of the assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study done to characterize the nucleotide sequence of ompA, ompB and citrate sintase (gltA) genes from Candidatus Rickettsia rioja. Candidatus Rickettsia rioja is a new spotted fever group Rickettsia involved in tick-borne diseases in Spain. Specimens from blood samples, Dermacentor (D.) marginatus removed from Dermacentor-borne necrosis erythema and lymphadenopathy (DEBONEL) patients, and D. marginatus removed from asymptomatic people were analyzed for the study.

Reports on a case of relapsing brucellosis in a patient with HIV infection. Medical history of the patient; Review of the medical literature; Possible reasons for relapse in the patient.

Introduction. The association between psychotic disorders and epilepsy has been controversial. Different subtypes of psychotic disorders in epilepsy patients have been described according to temporal relationship with seizures-postictal (PIP), interictal (IIP) and bimodal (BP) psychoses are described in literature. Objectives. Determine clinical characteristics of patients with refractory partial epilepsy and psychoses and compare the results with a control group of patients with refractory partial epilepsy without psychoses. Methods. A total of 57 patients with refractory partial epilepsy and psychotic disorders (psychotic group [PG]) and 56 patients with refractory partial epilepsy and without psychoses (control group, CG) were evaluated according to DSM-IV criteria and SCID-I. All patients underwent complete neurological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and psychiatric assessment. Clinical, demographic and neuroimaging data were compared between patients in CG and PG. Results. In PG 15 patients (26%) had criteria for PIP, 29 patients (51%) for IIP and 13 patients (23%) for BP. Epilepsy time duration and bilateral hippocampal sclerosis were significantly more frequent in patients with psychosis. PG patients had a longer evolution time of epilepsy and greater frequency of bilateral hippocampal sclerosis (p < 0,05). No differences were found between psychoses subtypes. Conclusions. Longer evolution of seizures and the presence of bilateral hippocampal sclerosis may increase propensity to develop psychoses in patients with refractory partial epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In southern Spain, Dermacentor marginatus ticks can be infected with several genospecies of spotted fever Group (SFG) Rickettsia. We developed a nested polymerase chain reaction assay by using a species-specific probe targeting the ompA gene to detect and differentiate between the two groups of rickettsiae previously described in D. marginatus. SFG rickettsia has been detected in 85.15% of ticks studied (26.7% of positives have been to R. slovaca, the causative agent of TIBOLA-DEBONEL, and 73.3% to SFG rickettsia closely related to strains RpA4–JL-02-DnS14–DnS28). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: A quantitative biomarker for identification of pre‐frail and frail persons is still lacking. This study aimed to identify biomarker predictors of frailty in HIV‐infected patients. Methods: A cross‐sectional study of HIV‐infected patients who had been on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for at least 1 year and who presented an undetectable viral load (< 50 HIV‐1 RNA copies/mL) at baseline was carried out. For each frail patient, up to four pre‐frail and robust patients were randomly selected. The frailty status assessment was based on the five‐item criteria described by Fried et al. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, biochemical and HIV‐related characteristics were evaluated. Multiple potential biomarkers of frailty and a biological age biomarker were analysed. Results: A total of 73 HIV‐infected patients on ART for at least 1 year were evaluated. The patients were categorized as robust (n = 33), pre‐frail (n = 32) and frail (n = 8) using the Fried criteria. All patients were on ART, with 100% undetectable viral load (< 50 copies/mL) at baseline. No significant differences in demographic, clinical or analytical characteristics were observed among patients in the different categories based on Fried criteria, with the exception of the veterans aging cohort study index (VACS). Similarly, no differences were observed in HIV‐related characteristics, although nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) use was less common in frail persons. The distribution of biomarker values varied according to frailty status, with frail persons having higher levels of interleukin (IL)‐8, IL‐18, CXC chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) and retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4). In multivariable analysis, the assocation of frailty with RBP4 showed a tendency to statistical significance (odds ratio 1.0; 95% confidence interval 0.99–1.00; P < 0.05). Conclusions: Differential biomarker expression was present according to Fried status. Longitudinal studies will clarify the utility of these biomarkers as targets for diagnostic or therapeutic intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The definitive diagnosis of parathyroid cancer is extremely difficult, from the clinical approach to the molecular diagnosis. A gene mutation was detected recently in patients with parathyroid cancer. It is a suppressor tumor gene called HRPT2, which codifies for a protein that participates in PAF1 complex, the parafibromin. It has been observed that the expression of this protein it's altered in parathyroid cancer, what would serve like method of diagnosis by immunohystochemistry, with a sensitivity and specificity of 73-96% and 99-100%, respectively. Material and Method: The anti-parafibromin immunohystochemistry staining was made in 23 parathyroids tissue samples (5 adenomas, 6 hyperplasia, 7 normal and 5 carcinomas). Results: A positive pattern is observed in almost 100% of benign pathology and 100% in normal tissue. In the cases of carcinoma only 2 of 5 had a strong positivity. Conclusions: The pathological clinical correlation does not allow the association of the loss of parafibromin immunoreactivity in some unequivocal cases of parathyroid cancer. The parafibromin immunostaining does not allow to discriminate between benign or malign pathologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective was to learn the prevalence of spotted fever group (SFG) Rickettsia detected in ticks in La Rioja, in the north of Spain. From 2001 to 2005, 496 ticks representing 7 tick species were analysed at the Hospital de La Rioja. Ticks were removed from humans with or without rickettsial syndrome ( n= 59) or collected from mammals ( n= 371) or from vegetation by dragging ( n= 66). The presence of SFG Rickettsia in these ticks was investigated by semi-nested PCR ( ompA gene) and sequencing. A phylogenetic tree using Clustal method (neighbor-joining) was constructed with these data. Only 3 of 170 Hyalomma marginatum ticks carried SFG Rickettsia. Sequencing analysis demonstrated the presence of Rickettsia aeschlimannii (1.8%). Furthermore, Rickettsia massiliae and BAR29 were found in 3 of 120 Rhipicephalus sanguineus specimens (2.5%). In contrast, 81 of 83 tested Dermacentor marginatus ticks were PCR-positive (97%). Rickettsia slovaca (40.6%) and Rickettsia sp. strains RpA4, DnS14, DnS28 and JL-02 (59.3%) were found within this tick species. No SFG Rickettsia was detected using ompA primers when Ixodes ricinus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus eversti eversti, Hyalomma detritum scupense and Rhipicephalus sp. were analyzed. We detected 17.5% of ticks associated with different SFG Rickettsia: R. aeschlimannii, R. massiliae, BAR29, R. slovaca and Rickettsia sp. strains RpA4, DnS14, DnS28 and JL-02. Their presence has to be taken into account since most of them have been recognized as human pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]